The Blog Around the Corner

If you liked the Hunger Games...

2011-08-20T15:15:00.005-04:00

... I think you would enjoy Matched By Ally Condie. I just finished this book and I loved it! Like the Hunger Games trilogy, it is young adult dystopian literature and has a strong female lead. It is set in undetermined time in the future, when every aspect of life is now controlled by the Society. The Society determines what you eat, what you wear, what job you will have, and, the focus of this book, who you will marry, all with the goal of maximum efficiency. Soon after your 18th birthday, you attend your Match banquet, where you learn who you will marry after your 21st birthday. When Cassia Reyes is matched with her friend Xander, at first she is thrilled. But then her mysterious friend Ky causes her to wonder what it would be like to make her own decisions. This was a great read. I can't wait for the sequel to come out in November.

My Pregnancy: 10 Weeks

2011-08-17T20:49:00.005-04:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I've updated my blog! But after having a few people ask me about it, I thought I really should get back to blogging again. As you probably already know, we've had some life-changing news in our family since the last time I blogged. Our family will become 3 this March! We are thrilled about being parents. We've been married for 6 years now, and we've been through a lot as a couple. We've lived in 3 different states. I've had several jobs. We both got our masters degrees and Andrew is nearly done with his Ph.D. Andrew joined the Air Force. We became an aunt and uncle. And on and on. We have enjoyed being just the two of us so much. But we can't wait to add a little one to the mix and start the next chapter.

Right now I am 10 weeks along! That means our baby is about an inch and a half long (or the size of a prune). An amazing fact about our baby this week is that its elbows are already working!

I am feeling the pains of having a "barnacle" growing inside me (the baby's newest nickname). Morning sickness hit with a vengeance at week 6 and hasn't let up since. I feel like I am sleeping all the time! I included a picture here of me this week. Now, I am the first to admit that I wasn't a skinny girl to begin with! So this picture doesn't have much "baby bump" to it, just my normal chubbiness. But I know that I will like to look back eventually and see how my belly changed over time.

So I'm back to blogging. I promise to blog about more than just my pregnancy! Although the recipes may be on hold until the second trimester...

Books 23-26 of 2011

2011-04-12T15:34:00.006-04:00

I'm a little bit behind on blogging about the books I've read recently. Life has been slightly hectic. But I have been doing some great reading. I've really been on a roll lately of reading books that are so good I can't seem to put them down! Here are the latest.

Book #23 was Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes, the amazing author/illustrator of one of my favorite children's books, Kitten's First Full Moon. I liked Little White Rabbit a lot as well. It is a sweet story about a rabbit using his imagination as he looks at his surroundings. The illustrations are great too. 5 stars

Book #24 was If You're Hoppy written by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic. A fun and silly book about animals with cartoon-y illustrations? Right up my alley! I loved it so much I came home with my own copy of it. 5 stars

Book #25 was The Heights by Peter Hedges. I really enjoyed this book about a young family living in Brooklyn Heights. It was an impulse read, I found it while wondering around the library without any particular purpose. While the blurb on the book flap hinted at a mystery that didn't actually exist in the book, I still thought it was engaging and the format of short chapters with alternating points of view made it a quick read. 4 stars

Book #26 was The Help. Like probably everyone else on the planet (or at least in the Southern United States) I have been hearing raves about this book for a couple of years now. I've been wanting to read it, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet. My husband was actually assigned this book to read for one of his classes, so I thought I'd try to read it as well while we had it checked out from the library. It was fantastic! Well worth all the praise. I could not put this book down. It's 451 pages and I read it in 3 days. It's thought-provoking and eye-opening, especially for someone of my generation and up-bringing. It made me mad and sad and happy and... it's just great. Go read it. 5 stars

Really Big News!

2011-03-31T11:50:00.001-04:00

This is a very big day in the Presnell household. Andrew was just sworn in as a First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force! He will be participating in the Air Force Health Professionals scholarship program. They will pay for the rest of his schooling (2 1/2 years including his internship) and then he will serve as a psychologist for the Air Force for 3 years with the opportunity to re-enlist at that point if we decide that's what is best for us. It has been a big decision and we have mostly kept it quiet, because it was a competitive scholarship and we wanted to wait until it was official. I am so very proud of him. It is an opportunity to help our soldiers in a way that is very needed. And a way for us to get some great experiences and opportunities. So that's about all we know for now. I'll share any more details when I have them!

Book #22 of 2011

2011-03-28T11:55:00.002-04:00

Book #22 was The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I loved this book! And I was really excited to find out it was the first in a series of 7 books. The heroine of this book is Flavia de Luce, an eleven-year-old aspiring chemist living in a picturesque English village in the 1950s. When a dead body turns up in the garden of her family's estate, it turns out that Flavia is pretty good at solving mysteries, too. Reading this book was just fun. I highly recommend it to pretty much anyone. 5 stars

Cadbury Creme Deviled Eggs

2011-03-24T18:38:00.002-04:00

Usually, I hate deviled eggs. Just thinking about them now kind of makes me want to gag. But THESE are some deviled eggs I could get behind. Although I'm pretty sure I could only eat about half of one of these sugary concoctions, made from Cadbury Creme Eggs and buttercream frosting. If you want to make them, check out the info over at Serious Eats.

Ferris Bueller Board Game

2011-03-22T11:22:00.002-04:00

I love this Ferris Bueller board game! So fun, colorful and creative. I have seen this movie probably 100 times (at least). I'll stop every time I see it on tv. "You're Abe Froman? The sausage king of Chicago?" Click on the picture to see a larger image. From Max Dalton.

Books # 20 & 21 of 2011

2011-03-21T22:12:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm now a fifth of the way through my goal for 2011! Book #20 was The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. I thought the movie looked pretty good, and I always like to read the book before seeing a movie if possible. I thought the book was pretty good, although there was a little too much lawyer-speak for me. I was hoping there would be a little more action and less focus on the courtroom proceedings. 3 stars

Book # 21 was The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Ranch Wife by Ree Drummond. Ree is one of my very favorite bloggers. Her website, www.thepioneerwoman.com, is full of great photography, recipes, and other fun and pretty things. However, this cookbook was just ok. I didn't feel like it offered much past what is available on her website. In fact, I think there are some much better recipes on her website! 3 stars

Books #18 & #19 of 2011

2011-03-07T14:15:00.005-05:00

Book # 18 was Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler. This is a young adult book translated from German. To me, the subject matter, about a teenage girl who learns about her grandfather's involvement with the Nazi party, had more potential than the writer was able to live up to. While I'm sure it's possible that the writing could have suffered in the translation, the novel was disjointed and at times confusing, going back and forth between the main character's inner dialog and actual advancement of the plot. However, this book does offer an interesting perspective of how the German people are dealing with the sins of their fathers (and grandfathers). 3 stars

Book #19 is Runaways Deluxe Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn. This is maybe the best graphic novel I've ever read, or at least my favorite. A group of teenagers learn that their parents are super-villians and set about an attempt to thwart them. Published by Marvel, Vaughn sprinkles in some fun references, including Captain America coming in to "save the day" but really not doing anything of the sort. I can't wait to read the follow-ups to this first volume. 5 stars

Thought for Today

2011-03-03T12:41:00.003-05:00

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Apple Butter Banana Bread

2011-03-02T19:24:00.003-05:00

I love this banana bread recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. The apple butter adds an extra little something that makes it taste better than regular old banana bread!

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (2 small)
1/2 cup apple butter
1/4 cup canola or cooking oil

Directions

1. Grease and flour the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Make a well in center of the flour mixture; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, sugar, banana, apple butter, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Spoon batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 45 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. Makes: 1 loaf (16 servings)

Tuesday Giggles

2011-03-01T12:52:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday Mamaw

2011-02-28T21:31:00.003-05:00

Today my Mamaw would have been celebrating her 78th birthday. I think about her and miss her every single day. Of course there's the old cliche that you don't know what you've got until it's gone, but in that case I don't think it's true. I knew what I had, and I loved my Mamaw like crazy. Of course, there were times when she drove me crazy, too. All good relationships are like that. But what I didn't realize until she was gone was just how much she had influenced my life and the person I have become. I wish that I could tell her thank you for that. Mamaw passed away when I was 21. Andrew and I had just gotten engaged a couple of weeks before. She didn't get to be there for my wedding, and she'll never get to meet my kids. But I'll have so many stories to tell them about her. And it's because of her that I'm the person I am. Every once and a while little things will dawn on me, and I'll see her influence in my life. As you can tell from reading my blog, two of my favorite things are cooking and reading. Mamaw was such an amazing cook and always encouraged me to help her in the kitchen. We would spend weekends together picking out recipes and cooking away. My earliest memory of reading are of the cassette tapes Mamaw used to record of her reading me stories so I could listen to them when she wasn't there. I'd give anything in the world to have just one of those now.

For my cousins and I, Mamaw was a constant in our lives. She was there for us at times when our parents couldn't be. For me, she was there through my parents' divorce. I was only 2 years old when my parents divorced, but I know it would have been a much more difficult time in my life without Mamaw there to shield me from it. Mamaw lived through some difficult times in her own life, but I remember the big smile she would have on her face any time she was around her family. Thinking about her tonight, I have a smile like that now.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep (Live on Letterman)

2011-02-28T11:10:00.000-05:00

Why Save PBS?

2011-02-25T10:21:00.002-05:00

Get involved at www.170millionamericans.org.

Books #13-17 of 2011

2011-02-20T14:29:00.009-05:00

In addition to trying to read 100 books in 2011, I also hope to eventually read all of the Caldecott medal and honor winners. The Caldecott Medal is given every year to the most distinguished American picture book of the year, based solely on the illustrations. Lucky for me, the education library on campus has an awesome selection of school media materials (including children's and young adult books) and even has all the Caldecott winners separated into their own section. So the other day on my lunch break I went and sat down with a few of them.

Arrow to the Sun, illustrated by Gerald McDermott is based on a Pueblo Indian tale and was the winner of the medal in 1975. It is about a young boy who came into being when an arrow was sent to earth from the sun. When he gets older, he returns to the sun in search of his father. The illustrations are created out of geometric shapes in bright colors and are really beautiful. 4 stars

Prayer for a Child was written by Rachel Field and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones and won the Caldecott medal in 1945. It is an illustrated bedtime prayer, with sweet traditional illustrations. For me the best part of this book was seeing an example of an early children's book and thinking about the all the children who have read it over the years. 4 stars

The big surprise out of this group was the winner of the 1978 medal, Noah's Ark, illustrated by Peter Spier. At first glance it's simply the story of Noah's Ark told entirely in illustrations. But once I started to really look at the illustrations, I fell in love. The illustrations are extremely detailed and funny and just generally gave me the warm fuzzies. I feel like you could find something new in the illustrations every time you read the book. I especially liked the scenes showing how Noah took care of all the different animals. I never thought too much about it before, but that would be a big job! 5 stars

The very first Caldecott medal was awarded in 1938 to Animals of the Bible, illustrations by Dorothy P. Lathrop accompanied by text from the New King James Version of the Bible. Not exactly the text we would give a book geared towards children today! It was definitely interesting to see the first medal winner, and the black and white illustrations were beautiful, but this wasn't my favorite book ever. 2 stars

Finally, I read the 1997 medal winner, Golem by David Wisnieski. It is kind of a Jewish folk tale set during the persecution of Jews in 15th century Prague. This is one of those Caldecott winners that is not really appropriate for young children, as many of the themes and images could be frightening. The story was interesting, but it was obvious to me that the illustrations, made out of layers of cut paper, were the real star here. 3 stars

Book #12 of 2011

2011-02-18T11:58:00.002-05:00

Book #12 was The River Wife by Jonis Agee. It's a novel about several generations of one family, all connected by the family patriarch, Jacques, and all living in the same house over the years. Jacques was a river pirate along the Mississippi, and the book features the stories of his first wife Annie Lark, a freed slave named Omah who assisted him with his pirating, his second wife Laura, his daughter Maddie, and his grandson's wife Hedie, who finds the books containing the stories of all these women years after the fact. I don't really have anything exciting to say about this book one way or another. It was one of those books that was just kind of there. It wasn't great, it wasn't awful. None of the characters were particularly likable, and at times the writing was rough. I wouldn't particularly recommend it. 3 stars

Cheese Grits

2011-02-16T19:47:00.005-05:00

Tonight I'm cooking cheese grits and this one of my favorite recipes, not only because it's so yummy but because it's also super easy. Cheese grits are a great side for pretty much anything if you ask me. Sometimes we have them with shrimp and sometimes with chicken sausage and diced tomatoes, which doesn't sound all that special but is actually really delicious. Tonight we're having them with jerk pork chops (grilled by Andrew the grill-master).

Here's the recipe. It's from the February 2008 issue of Southern Living. I didn't take many pictures because it's so easy and quick there's hardly any steps to take pictures of!

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking or instant grits (I use instant)
3/4 cup Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Hot sauce

Bring first 3 ingredients and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat (Note: Once it starts boiling, the milk will cause it to boil over fast, so watch out); gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened (the time this will take will differ depending on what kind of grits you are using, the instant ones usually take less than 5 minutes). Stir in cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Season with hot sauce.

See? So easy. You can see from my picture that I use fat-free and reduced-fat milk and cheeses and they taste just as good I promise. So that's a good way to cut a few calories. Hope you like 'em!

Cameo Candies

2011-02-16T10:52:00.002-05:00

These cameo chocolates make me smile! I kind of want to buy the molds and make some myself and then throw an old-fashioned tea party. Actually, I think they give me the warm-fuzzies because they remind me of my grandmother. I can remember her wearing a cameo necklace (it was pink, on a long gold chain) and I also remember her making mints similar to these for receptions and parties at church. I found these in this month's Country Living.

Happy Valentine's Day to My Love

2011-02-14T15:45:00.011-05:00

Generally, I'm not one for big proclamations of love. I love my husband A LOT and I think anyone who knows me knows that. And he absolutely knows that because I tell him everyday. But since it's Valentine's Day and he bugged me last night because I haven't written a new blog post in a week, here's a post especially for my husband Andrew, the love of my life.

Remember when we first started dating and we wanted to be together every second of every day? I still feel that way. You're the funniest, sweetest, most entertaining person I know.

Remember when we got married on went on our amazing honeymoon that was so much fun we still talk about it all the time even though it was almost 6 years ago? I can't wait for all the other trips to new places and new adventures that await us in our lifetime. I love that you dream big and want us to see the world together.

Remember when we moved North Carolina and didn't know another soul except each other? We learned so much about ourselves and grew closer as husband and wife. We learned to appreciate nature and small-town life and discovered the values we want for our family. I'm incredibly grateful to share my life with someone with principles and convictions.

You know how I always cry over little things like when a Disney World commercial comes on TV and I think about how much fun it will be to take our kids there one day? Thanks for not laughing at me but always just kissing me on the forehead and calling me your tender-hearted girl. And thank you for being so careful with my tender heart.

Remember how I used to hate baseball because I thought it was super-boring but now I love it and want to watch it every night, all summer long? Thanks for encouraging me to keep an open mind and try new things.

You know how you can always make me smile when I'm sad? I love that.

And you know how you tell me I'm beautiful when I'm wearing a ball cap and no make up? That's pretty much the best thing ever.

So, basically, what I'm saying is, you're awesome. I look forward to many many more years together until we are old and dress like this un-ironically and embarrass our children.

And I want to kiss you like this every day and embarrass our children some more. And keep kissing like this every day until we move past the years where it embarrasses our children and we become the adorable elderly couple that still kisses each other like this and have for the last 60 years.

Happy Valentine's Day Drew. I love you lots.

The Secret Sisters

2011-02-07T13:38:00.005-05:00

I just discovered this group this weekend. They are sisters from Muscle Shoals and I LOVE their voices and musical style! And how could I not like a song called "Tennessee Me"?

I thought that was great, and then I found them covering my favorite Patsy Cline song, "Walkin' After Midnight" which was also really good! It made me smile on this rainy Monday. I can't embed it, but here's the link. You should watch it.

Books #10 and #11 of 2011

2011-02-04T14:39:00.004-05:00

Well, I haven't been doing much cooking or much of anything else interesting this week (besides being on the hunt for some of these cupcakes) but I did take a trip to the library and have been doing some reading!

Book #10 was Maus by Art Spiegelman. Wow. Amazing book. It's a graphic novel telling the story of the author's father, who lived as a Jewish man in Poland during World War 2 and spent time in Auschwitz. The characters are portrayed as animals rather than people, with each ethnicity and/or nationality as a different animal. For instance, Jews are mice and Germans or other non-Jews are for the most part portrayed as pigs. The book flashes back an forth between the 1970s, when Spiegelman is recording his father's story, and the father's story itself. The book shows the way the father's experiences would impact the way he lived the rest of his life. This book was eye-opening and doesn't hold back. Parts were difficult to read but I feel it's important to be educated about these events. I highly recommend this book, which is the recipient of a well-deserved Pulitzer prize. Being a graphic novel, it is a fairly quick read. I wasn't able to put it down and read it in 2 days. 5 stars

I was slightly less thrilled with book #11, Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez. This was a book I had marked as wanting to read from the Young Adult Literature class I took 2 years ago. It's about Anita, a 12-year-old who lives in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s. Her parents are involved in a plot to kill the dictator and liberate the country. The book was fairly interesting, but personally, I don't care much for books written towards the tween set. The writing was simplistic for my taste, but it was a good story about a topic that doesn't get a lot of attention. 3 stars

Books #7-9 of 2011

2011-01-24T20:50:00.006-05:00

More kids' books! I had a couple of coupons this weekend for Barnes and Noble to buy one kid's book and get one half off so I had a lot of fun reading kids' books to decide which ones to buy. In case you are wondering, I ended up bringing home Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type, Harry the Dirty Dog, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and (book #9) I Must Have Bobo!

Book #7 was Children Make Terrible Pets by Peter Brown. I loved the bright illustrations in this book about a bear cub that finds a stray human child and wants to make him her pet. 4 stars

Book #8 was Dog Loves Books by Louise Yates. Andrew actually picked up this book in Barnes and Noble because of the cute cover illustration. Dog loves books so much that he decides to open his own bookstore, because even more than he loves books, he loves sharing them. 4 stars

I liked book #9 so much I bought it! It was I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal. This is a brand new book that according to Amazon doesn't actually even come out until tomorrow. I loved it! The little boy in the book is very attached to his toy monkey (I can relate to this... I still sleep with my teddy bear I've had since I was two!) But someone else also loves Bobo... the boy's cat, Earl! When Bobo goes missing, who do you think has him? 5 stars

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

2011-01-24T12:29:00.003-05:00

This weekend my sister and her boyfriend came to eat with us. To me that meant time to try a new dessert recipe! I feel better about making whole desserts when other people come over because maybe that means Andrew and I won't eat the whole thing ourselves! I actually chose this recipe because we were in the grocery store a couple of weeks ago when I found my husband in the bakery looking longingly at this very kind of cake. I had been going through a big pile of old magazines and tearing out recipes I wanted to try and found this one in an old Southern Living. I have linked to the recipe and and copied it here. Also, enjoy the pretty picture from Southern Living, I didn't take any of my own this time. (Which is good actually, the cake turned out kind of ugly but tasted just great.) Seriously, the cake tastes like a giant chocolate chip cookie. Amazing. Anyway, the recipe...

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Other: 2 hours
Yield: Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 (12-oz.) package semisweet chocolate mini-morsels
Garnishes: whipped cream, cherries

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a small bowl, using a fork. Sprinkle in a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer 3 to 5 minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Beat in chocolate mini-morsels. (Mixture will be thick.) Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake at 350° for 50 to 55 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

Books #3-6 of 2011

2011-01-22T18:04:00.011-05:00

Six books down, only 94 to go on my quest to read 100 books this year! Right now I am stuck on Love in the Time of Cholera, but that's another story. Here's what I thought about the last 4 books I read.

The third book of the year was Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. This was an incredible book. It starts with the story of Sarah, a 10 year old Jewish girl living in France in 1942, beginning with the night that Jews are rounded up in Paris and sent to holding camps outside the city. It switches point-of-view and time periods back and forth between Sarah and a woman named Julia, who, 60 years later, is finding her life intertwining with Sarah's story. I highly reccommend this book, especially to those, like me, with an interest in World War II history. 5 stars

I knew when I took this 100-book challenge, the only way I would be able to complete it would be to include children's books. But that's ok because there are lots of children's books I want to read. I took 2 children's literature classes in library school and now I love kid's books even more than I did before!

For book #4 I read Snow by Uri Shulevitz. It won the Charlotte Zolotow Award in 1999 and was a Caldecott Honor book that same year. I loved this book. It's a book of few words, but the pictures were gorgeous. The little boy in the book is very excited about the possibility of snow, but adults try to tell him it isn't going to snow or that it's going to melt as soon as it hits the ground... but they are wrong! It snows and snows and the little boy has lots of fun playing in it. 5 stars

Book #5 was City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems. Mo is one of my favorite new children's book authors, and I love his quirky, funny style. This book isn't his usual fare, and personally, I didn't like it as much. The watercolor illustrations are great, but the story just didn't do it for me. 3 stars

Book #6 was Pinkalicious by Victoria & Elizabeth Kann. I'd been hearing about the book for a while, but hadn't gotten around to reading it. It was a cute story about a little girl who eats too many cupcakes and turns pink! What a great problem to have... 4 stars

Shrimp and Orzo Salad

2011-01-21T22:25:00.015-05:00

I was feeling creative the other night and made up this recipe for a Shrimp and Orzo Salad. For some reason, all these things just sounded really yummy to me. And actually, it turned out pretty good. I sort of cobbled together this orzo salad recipe from Simply Recipes, this balsamic mushrooms recipe from Martha Stewart, and this orzo recipe from Rachael Ray.

Here's what you need:

1 Cucumber
1/2 a bag of Baby Spinach
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
8 oz. Sliced Mushrooms
3 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
2 cans (3 1/2 cups) Chicken Stock
2 cups orzo
1 lb of Shrimp
Juice of 1 Lemon, divided
3 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
Pinch of Dried Basil
Pinch of Dried Oregano
Feta cheese (as much as you like)
Salt and Pepper

Wow, that's a lot of ingredients! Don't worry, it's not that hard to put together.

1.Peel the cucumber and cut it into cubes.

2. Tear the stems off the spinach leaves. (Or don't, if they don't bother you. I don't like the tough stems personally.)

3. Make the balsamic mushrooms: Heat the 2 Tbsp. of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook them until they're brown, about 5 minutes.

4. Add the 3 Tbsp. of balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. of salt, and some pepper. Cook another minute, then take the mushrooms off the heat and spread them out to cool.

5. Next, start cooking the orzo. Put the chicken broth in a pot and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, stir in the orzo. Return the broth to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is tender. (Side note: You could cook the orzo with water -- the directions are on the box -- but cooking it with chicken stock adds LOTS of flavor.) When the orzo is finished cooking, try to cool it down a little by spreading it out on a platter or cookie sheet and/or placing it in the fridge. It will be really hot and this is supposed to be a cold salad.

6. Next go ahead and make the dressing: Place in a bowl the 3 Tbsp. of vegetable oil, 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice, 1 Tbsp. of red wine vinegar, 1 tsp. of Dijon mustard, a pinch of dried basil, and a pinch of oregano (or any other herbs you'd like to throw in).

Whisk it until it looks like this.

7. Now cook the shrimp. If they have shells or tails, remove them. Place a little oil in a pan over medium high heat. Season the shrimp with some salt and pepper and the remaining lemon juice.

8. Cook the shrimp until they are pink and yummy-looking. Then take them off the heat and let them cool a bit.

9. Cut the feta cheese into cubes (or crumble it if you prefer).

10. Mix it all together! Toss the cucumbers, spinach, mushrooms, shrimp, orzo, feta, and dressing in a BIG bowl. Add some salt and pepper to taste. If you can wait, put the salad in the fridge to chill for a while. If you can't wait, have some right away (but it's better cold)! The recipe makes plenty for leftovers -- we ate on it for a couple of days!

Books #1 and #2 of 2011

2011-01-13T09:58:00.004-05:00

I've set a (probably crazy) goal of reading 100 books this year. Not sure if I can do it, but I'm going to try. So far I've read 2 books this year. Here's what I thought of them.

The first book I read this year was The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. It's the story of Arnold Spirit, the geekiest kid on the Spokane Indian Reservation. When Arnold decides he want to attend a high school off the reservation in order to get a better chance at the future, the other Indians on the reservation treat him as a traitor. But this is one of those books that's about so much more than the plot. We see Arnold growing and learning things about himself throughout the novel. It is both heart-breaking and funny, and for me it brought to light the struggles of a people group that are often pushed aside and forgotten. I listened to the audio book version of this book, read by the author. It was still a great book, but I was sad to miss out on the illustrations -- Arthur is an artist, expressing himself through his cartoons. For this reason, I would suggest to others to pick up the book version instead. I highly recommend this book! 5 stars

Secondly, I read the final installment of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Like the other 2 books in the trilogy, this one is very long and started very slowly. This was the last book Larsson wrote before his death, and I had read that it suffered from a lack of editing because perhaps he wasn't entirely finished with it at the time of his death. I would wholeheartedly agree with this assessment -- there was a lot, especially in the first 200 pages or so, that could have been edited out. And thank goodness for the notes on Swedish history in the back or a couple of times I would have been really lost! But once the story got going, I started to enjoy it more. By the end I was was really into it and I thought it was a satisfying conclusion to the 3 books. Like its sequels, this book is not for everyone. It is full of violence and at times hard to read. There are some lose ends left that didn't get tied up and one thing in particular I hoped would be included in the plot that wasn't, but overall I enjoyed the book after following these characters over the course of 3 books. 4 stars

Taco Soup

2011-01-12T11:59:00.004-05:00

I made the most amazing Taco Soup for dinner last night and I just had to share the recipe! It's from Tasty Kitchen, but I have also pasted the recipe here. I didn't take any pictures of my own, the one here is also from Tasty Kitchen. The only change I made to the recipe was instead of using a 28-ounce can of tomatoes, I used one 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes and one 10-ounce can of Rotel to add some extra kick. Also, I used 4 cups of chicken stock and next time I would use all the juice from the tomatoes as well -- the soup really thickened up and the leftovers have hardly any liquid to them. But the soup is delicious and was super fast and easy to make!

1 pound Ground Beef, Browned And Drained
28 ounces, weight Canned Crushed Or Diced Tomatoes
2 cups To 3 Cups Chicken Broth Or Stock (depending on how thick you like it.)
1 envelope (1 Oz. Packet) Ranch Dressing Mix
1 envelope (about 1 Oz. Package) Taco Or Enchilada Seasoning
15 ounces, weight Canned Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
15 ounces, weight Canned Chili Beans, With Sauce
15 ounces, weight Canned Pinto Beans, Drained And Rinsed
2 cups Frozen Corn Kernels
OPTIONAL FOR SERVING: Tortilla Or Corn Chips, Grated Cheese, Sour Cream, Sliced Green Onions, Minced Fresh Cilantro, Diced Tomatoes

Slow Cooker Directions:

In a slow cooker crock, stir together meat, tomatoes, dressing and seasoning mixes, black beans, chili beans with sauce, pinto beans and corn. Place lid on crock, turn slow cooker to ‘LOW’ and cook for 6-8 hours.

Serve with or without toppings. Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also portion the leftover soup into individual servings and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Stovetop Directions:

Stir together meat, tomatoes, dressing and seasoning mixes (if using), black beans, chili beans with sauce, pinto beans and corn in an appropriately-sized soup pot. Place lid on pot, put pot over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove the lid and allow to simmer gently for 30-40 minutes or until soup is slightly thickened.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T14:34:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year, blog readers. I'm sure you already know this, but I am now a Masters degree graduate! And in addition to (hopefully) better job opportunities and feeling like a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders, I am hoping this means more time do do the things I think are fun, like cooking, crafting, and reading. And blog about those things! I already have some recipes ready to go up within the week so stay tuned. In the mean time, please enjoy this picture of graduation day. You have no idea how great that day felt!

Choclate Bourbon Pecan Pie

2010-11-19T10:47:00.003-05:00

Mmmm! I can't wait to try this recipe! From She Wears Many Hats.

Ninjabreadmen

2010-10-29T12:46:00.003-04:00

I am just finding all kinds of stuff that makes me smile today. I love these Ninjabreadmen cookie cutters. They make me giggle. Via The Pioneer Woman.

Halloween Chicken McNugget Buddies!

2010-10-29T12:07:00.002-04:00

Anyone else remember these? My mom still has a set of them and brings them out every Halloween! We never had the Frankenstein and Dracula ones, apparently, because I don't remember seeing them before. Maybe it's time to do some scouting on Ebay or at antique stores!

Via I'm Remembering. I love this site, it's the perfect walk down 80s and early 90s memory lane. The person making it must be about my age, because I'm always looking at it and finding things from my childhood I totally forgot ever existed. (Pop Tarts cereal, anyone?)

Candy Corn Cupcakes (and they're low calorie!)

2010-10-28T23:30:00.009-04:00

For some reason, I am completely obsessed with candy corn this Halloween season. I can't get enough of the stuff! And I've always loved the way it looks. You see candy corn and you know, it's fall! So my recent enamor with candy corn inspired these cupcakes I made for our Halloween lunch at work tomorrow.

(I was trying to multi-task too much, so sorry about the lack of pictures.)

So, here's what you need to make these cupcakes:

Lemon cake mix
Orange cake mix
2 cans of Sprite Zero
Food coloring
2 to 3 tubs of fat-free Cool Whip
Candy corn

And here's how you make them:

1. First, make the lemon cake. It's so easy! Pour the lemon cake mix into a bowl. Pour in a whole can of Sprite Zero. Beat with an electric mixer until all the dry mix is incorporated. I added a few drops of yellow food coloring to make sure it had a nice yellow color.

2. Next, make the orange cake. Same as above, mix the orange cake mix and Sprite Zero with an electric mixer. Again, I tried to pump up the orange color with some food coloring.

3. Get your cupcake cups ready. Personally, I spray the cups so the cake doesn't stick to the paper.

4. Fill the cups a little less than halfway with the lemon cake mix. (I used this pancake pen to get the batter in the cups without making a mess. It is A-MAZ-ING.)

5. Next, cover the lemon batter in the cups with orange batter.

6. Bake according to cake mix directions.

7. Let cool! (This is important! The icing is just Cool Whip so if you put it on while they're still hot it will melt.)

8. Top with Cool Whip. (I used a Ziploc bag to pipe out the icing, but if you are fancy and have a piping bag, go for it.)

9. Garnish with candy corn!

According to the boxes, this should have made 48 cupcakes, but I only got 30 out of it. You could make smaller cupcakes and get more.

Here's the final product:

Check out the side view. See the different colors?

Ok, and the best thing about these cupcakes - they're healthy! By replacing the eggs and oil and the sugary frosting, we've cut out a ton of calories. From what I've figured up, these are about 2.5 Weight Watchers points apiece (for the number of cupcakes I made). Is that awesome or what?

Happy Halloween!

Sheldon vs. the Arachnid

2010-10-28T09:55:00.004-04:00

I love Sesame Street so much! Whenever I have kids, I'll probably want to watch it more than they will! Here's an adorable clip with Jim Parsons and an "arachnid". If you don't watch Big Bang Theory, you should check it out! Jim Parsons is hilarious as a brilliant but socially-impaired physicist named Sheldon Cooper. I also heard an episode of Fresh Air that he was on recently, and he just sounds like an all around nice guy. Enjoy this fun Sesame Street clip:

World's Largest Gummy Worm

2010-10-27T09:37:00.003-04:00

Gummy worms are one of my favorite candies... but I don't think even I could handle this 4,000 calorie monster. Also, is it just me, or does it look a little too realistic?

Via Slashfood

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Pink Week!

2010-10-25T09:57:00.003-04:00

My new favorite face, my niece Kamden...

Currently Reading: The Flying Troutmans

2010-08-24T15:50:00.004-04:00

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews is one of those books on my Books-to-Read list that I don't even remember how it got there! Somewhere along the way I heard about this book and thought I might enjoy it. Sometimes these forgotten discoveries turn out to be great and sometimes they're not so good. But so far I'm liking this one. It's about 28-year-old Hattie who suddenly must care for her niece and nephew when her emotionally-disturbed sister enters a psychiatric hospital. Hattie decides to make the children on a road trip to find their long-lost father. Hopefully I can let you know soon if I recommend it!

Story Corps - Danny & Annie

2010-08-18T11:31:00.002-04:00

Oh, this video made me cry - but it is so sweet and worth watching.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

Pretty Things

2010-08-12T17:17:00.007-04:00

The HGTV Design Happens blog is one of my favorite places online to go and look at pretty things. Here's a few things I found there today.

These bottles and pink flowers make me smile and for some reason remind me of my Mamaw.

Could this couch made out of an old bathtub be any cooler? I'm not convinced it would be totally comfy, but it's pretty to look at anyway.

I want to move into this bedroom right now. The indoor swing is super fun.
One day when we move back to the North Carolina mountains we'll need a sleeping porch like this.
And finally, I doubt I'll ever live anywhere as glamorous as this, but I'm kind of drooling over this room.

The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel

2010-08-10T10:30:00.002-04:00

The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel

From A.V. Club. This song gives me goosebumps every time, and this cover by Swell Season is amazing.

This American Life.

2010-08-09T11:37:00.002-04:00

I love This American Life and I was really excited to see Paste's recent list of great episodes. Cant' wait to listen to them all.

Paste Maganize: Seven Must-Listen This American Life Episodes

I Love Gladiolus!

2010-08-03T18:48:00.006-04:00

My sweet husband surprised me with this huge bunch of my favorite flowers when I got home from work today. It's an early birthday present. Aren't they pretty?

Summer Vegetable Gratin Recipe

2010-07-10T12:51:00.008-04:00

Last night I went to a vegetarian pot-luck. Andrew and I are not vegetarians, but I have one veggie recipe that I absolutely love. I think it's so delicious, I promise you won't miss the meat. The tomatoes and garlic oil give it an Italian flavor. Here's the recipe (from America's Test Kitchen):

Ingredients

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound zucchini , ends trimmed and sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 pound summer squash (yellow), ends trimmed and sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 teaspoons table salt
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes (3 to 4 large), sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 medium onions , halved lengthwise and sliced thin pole to pole (about 3 cups)
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 medium garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 large slice white sandwich bread , torn into quarters
2 ounces Parmesan cheese , grated (about 1 cup)
2 medium shallots , minced (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush 13- by 9-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon oil; set aside.
Toss zucchini and summer squash slices with 1 teaspoon salt in large bowl; transfer to colander set over bowl. Let stand until zucchini and squash release at least 3 tablespoons of liquid, about 45 minutes. Arrange slices on triple layer paper towels; cover with another triple layer paper towels. Firmly press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible.
Place tomato slices in single layer on double layer paper towels and sprinkle evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt; let stand 30 minutes. Place second double layer paper towels on top of tomatoes and press firmly to dry tomatoes.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and dark golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Set onions aside.
Combine garlic, 3 tablespoons oil, remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and thyme in small bowl. In large bowl, toss zucchini and summer squash in half of oil mixture, then arrange in greased baking dish. Arrange caramelized onions in even layer over squash. Slightly overlap tomato slices in single layer on top of onions. Spoon remaining garlic-oil mixture evenly over tomatoes. Bake until vegetables are tender and tomatoes are starting to brown on edges, 40 to 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, process bread in food processor until finely ground, about 10 seconds. (You should have about 1 cup crumbs.) Combine bread crumbs, remaining tablespoon oil, Parmesan, and shallots in medium bowl. Remove baking dish from oven and increase heat to 450 degrees. Sprinkle bread-crumb mixture evenly on top of tomatoes. Bake gratin until bubbling and cheese is lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and let sit at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.

It does take quite a bit of time to make this dish, but it is really yummy and perfect for all the summer vegetables available right now. For the breadcrumbs, I took the easy way out and used pre-made breadcrumbs.

Here's the finished product (although it looks less impressive than it tastes, actually):

And of course, I couldn't done any of it without my kitchen helper. Who, as it turns out, really likes summer squash.

Rugby Dog!

2010-07-08T19:27:00.004-04:00

Just a few pictures of my sweet Rugby.

Farmers' Market Goodies

2010-07-08T19:21:00.003-04:00

Look at all these goodies we got from the farmers' market today! They are for a dish I'm making tomorrow night for a vegetarian dinner party. More details on that to come...

Trying Again...

2010-07-07T09:25:00.001-04:00

Here I am, a year after my last blog post! I'm going to try to fire this thing back up again. I want to keep up with my photography, recipes I like and the occasional craft. Right now I'm in summer school, so it might be sporadic, but I like having a place to put down my thoughts.

My family recently lost another member. (This makes 3 in 6 years.) My cousin Dan was killed in a pretty tragic accident. He was only 32 and had 2 older brothers and many other family members who loved him very much. In the past few days my heart has been hurting. I've been so confused why God would allow this to happen and I've been unable to react in the way I wish I could. It's complicated, but my feelings are all mixed up and messy. Suddenly this morning a felt a great thirst for God's peace. In the midst of my crazy stressful life, I have abandoned the quest I once had to attain God's peace above all else. Since I'm at work and don't have a Bible handy, I took to the internet in search of a word of comfort. The first website I found had a verse of the day that was perfect for me right now:

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him." Psalm 18:30

I think that pretty much says it all.

Posters from the WPA

2009-07-06T12:35:00.003-04:00

Library of Congress has a program called American Memory which digitizes many of their objects and makes them available online, similar to what I do at the University of Alabama. Today I found this section of it that consists of posters created during FDR's New Deal. I love the vintage look of these and I would like to try to figure out how to print them out and decorate my apartment with them!

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/highlights.html

Finished with Summer School!!

2009-07-05T17:38:00.002-04:00

I have had an incredibly crazy last 6 months! After starting a new job in January, I had began a very busy sememster. I got a break from school for a few weeks in May, and then summer school started, which consisted of 9 hours of class a week and a week's worth of reading every other day, on top of 40 hours of work each week! I finished my final today, though, and have almost a 2 month break from school! Hooray! I hope during this time to get lots of reading and crafting done. I plan to try to update the blog more often with info about what I'm reading, making, cooking, and finding online.

Recipe Project - #1 Prosciutto Roasted Salmon with Autumn Vegetables

2009-03-02T22:12:00.005-05:00

Ok, I have a confession. I have about 25 cookbooks. And I hardly ever use them! I love to read cookbooks and make plans to try all these recipes one day, but I never seem to get around to actually try them. So I have decided to start a new project. Each week (or maybe every other week) I will choose a few of my cookbooks, get some random page numbers courtesy of random.org, turn to those pages and cook the recipes. I am allowing myself to pass on recipes I really don't think I will like or if I can't get the ingredients. So, I began my project with a cookbook we got for Christmas, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten.

Andrew and I love to watch Barefoot Contessa on tv, her meals always look so amazing! And complicated. I had never tried to cook one of her recipes before. The recipe that was randomly selected was Prosciutto Wrapped Salmon with Autumn Vegetables. (Actually, it was supposed to be bass, but they didn't have any at the good old Winn-Dixie so I had to substitute salmon.) Also, I know it's not fall so fall veggies aren't in season, but I went for it anyway. The recipe called for butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips (which I had to leave out because they didn't have those at the Winn-Dixie either). The salmon was actually really simple, just seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, wrapped with one slice of proscuitto, and roasted in the oven. While the salmon and veggies were roasting, I made a lemon-rosemary butter which I spooned over the fish when it came out of the oven. It was AMAZING!! Seriously, one of the most delicious things I've ever cooked! Here's some pictures of the finished product, one with the cookbook in the background and one close up. Yum!

I Love These Cookies

2008-12-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

You Are a Peanut Butter Kiss Cookie

You are a social, friendly, caring person.

You are good at helping people. You have a very giving heart.

You are a natural teacher or counselor. You get value from making someone's life better.

You are trustworthy, and a natural problem solver.

What Holiday Cookie Are You?

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T09:57:00.003-05:00

After work today, Andrew and I are headed to Chattanooga for Christmas with my family. And I am off work until January 5! So after we spend a few days with my family, we are heading up to Johnson City and Elizabethton for most of next week to see Andrew's family. I just hope I get a little time to relax and enjoy my time off. But it will be nice to spend some time with our families and see all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents we don't get to see very often. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

New Job!

2008-12-18T13:58:00.002-05:00

Now that everything is all official, I can announce that I have a new job! I am moving across campus to work in Hoole Special Collections Library. I will be a Digitization Specialist. (BTW, digitization is a really hard work to say.) I will be scanning some of UA's rare documents to be placed in a database and online. I will be learning to use all this fancy digitizing equipment, as well as learning how to color correct the images and make them look really good. As some of you know, it is my goal when I finish my master's degree to become an archivist, so this is a great way to get my foot in the door. I will be starting my new job January 12. I'm really excited!

All I Want for Christmas is for My House to be a Holiday Tribute to Mariah Carey

2008-12-17T14:46:00.001-05:00

Wow. These people really love that Mariah Carey song. That is commitment.

Heartbroken

2008-11-25T20:46:00.002-05:00

I am so very very sad tonight. A sweet friend of mine had a baby today who was born with a heart defect. He passed away soon after. I am grieving for my friend and her husband and this extremely painful loss. Please join me in saying a prayer for them. I cannot even imagine what they are going through and I would have no idea what to say to them in this moment. But I am praying harder than I have in a long time that God will comfort them and they will feel his presence.

Elf Yourself!

2008-11-21T15:12:00.001-05:00

Check out this link to see me and my lovely family dancing to Christmas music. It makes me giggle. A lot.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/qc5u9aAm9HVBeREqixbL

Wow, really?

2008-11-11T10:12:00.003-05:00

Seriously, I just had a student tell me it wasn't fair that students with disabilities got to register before other students because she didn't get the English class she wanted. Amazing. I just looked at her. I wonder if I would have gotten in trouble if I had said, "Yeah, because having a disability is such an advantage and all." Some of these kids need a reality check.

Election Season

2008-10-09T09:28:00.004-04:00

I used to really love politics. The last presidential election was the first one I was able to vote in and I was captivated by all of it. I listened to NPR and watched the news constantly to get every spare bit of information I could about the election and the candidates.

Now, I hate politics.

It's not because this year's election is any less exciting. It's more exciting to me, actually, but there is a candidate I can truly get behind and I have a great hope of what he can do for our country. But this year, I am completely overwhelmed by the negativity of the political machine and the utter disrespect and downright hatefulness that this election is bringing out in people.

It makes me cringe to hear one of the political candidates or those associated with the campaign constantly bad mouthing each other rather than focusing on the issues of a nation in crisis. It discourages me and angers me that at a time in our nation when the financial markets are crumbling around us, people are losing their homes and cannot afford the most basic necessities, let alone proper health care, and most of the world hates us for meddling in things that we should have left alone, we are spending our time insulting the opponent rather than telling the American people how we are going to solve these problems. One campaign has already told us to expect constant character-bashing of their opponent up until the election. Is that truly the best way to win an election? If so, how sad for our country.

But it's not just the politicians that are making me hate politics. It's the ugliness it brings out in normal folks too. One thing I will never understand is why Christians think at election time it's ok to say horrible, awful things about political candidates and those who support them. "Be kind one to another" applies during election season, too, in case you have forgotten. In what way is it Christian-like to call others names or wish harm upon someone you disagree with? I'm not saying I'm always perfect and never have a harsh word to say about others, but I have tried to be very aware of how I treat those with different political leanings during this election season. I would never personally attack someone because of what political candidate they support, and all I ask is that I be given the same respect. I respect your ability to make your own choices and form your own opinions about what is best for our country, and I hope you will do the same for me.

A friend and I have been discussing these issues quite a bit this fall. We have decided that we will pray for unity of our country and the church. Unity doesn't mean everyone agrees, but unity means that we can respect each other's beliefs and not tear one another down.

So I'm sure some of you will roll your eyes at this and call me an idiot and a hippie liberal and that's fine. But this election season has caused me to really consider these issues and the way I treat others. I just really needed to get these thoughts out there, because if they cause even one person to think twice about their actions then I'll feel a little better.

Happy voting.

Avett Brothers Concert

2008-09-26T11:00:00.003-04:00

Last night Andrew and I went to an amazing concert by the Avett Brothers. They really are incredible. I've always been a semi-fan of bluegrass and folk music, but since we went to Merle Fest back in April, I've really gone crazy for it. This was the first time I'd seen the Avett Brothers in concert and they put on a really great show. The band has a guitar, a banjo, an upright bass, cello and drums in it. I've never seen anyone really rock out on the cello, but this guy was doing it. The band seemed to be having a great time and most people in the crowd knew every word to every song which was amazing to me.

Unfortunately, being around all those college kids made me feel old and dumpy. Ha! Twenty-five. So old.

Today at 1:00 we are heading to North Carolina! Yay!! We're going back to Sylva to stay with our friends Jeff and Annie and their son Addison. It should be a great trip. We are going to Mountain Heritage Day tomorrow which is a big festival with mountain crafts, awesome kettle corn and bluegrass music that we kind of fell in love with when we were living up there. I'm looking forward to seeing mountains and hopefully some fall foliage, visiting our old church, and spending some time with some good friends.

We're coming home on Sunday and then Monday night we are going to Birmingham to see the Fleet Foxes in concert. They are supposed to be really good in concert, but I just hope I survive! the show doesn't start until 9 and it's an hour away. I have work and night class on Tuesday. I am getting too old for this! But it should be a (busy and tiring) fun weekend!

Tuscaloosa

2008-09-18T11:04:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I would give an update on our new life down here in Alabama. We moved to Tuscaloosa almost 2 months ago. I really like it more than I thought I would, especially now that the temperature is dropping a little bit!

I am working in the Registrar's Office at the University of Alabama. Not my dream job per say, but it works for now. The people i work with are nice and friendly and most of the time the parents and students we work with are polite and easy to deal with. I really love working at the University and all that comes with it. The benefits are great, the campus is beautiful and sometimes I get to have lunch with my husband or my sister, who are both students here as well.

I am going to school 2 nights a week to get my Masters in Library and Information Studies which I love. I can't wait to be a librarian! I am trying to decide what kind of librarian I want to be but right now i am leaning heavily towards working in a public library. I am really drawn to the opportunities for community service within a public library environment. The other option I am considering is working in a college or university library, but to do that I would really need an additional masters degree or Ph.D. Which could be possible in the future, but that's not something I'm too concerned with at the moment.

Andrew has started work on his Ph.D. in Clinical Geriatric Psychology and seems to be enjoying it. He says he has already learned a lot. My sister Sarah is also here, starting her freshman year. It's so nice to have her close by!

I like the town of Tuscaloosa. It's bigger than Sylva (thank goodness!) but not huge. Most everything we need is here, and on the rare occasion we want more shopping or resteraunts, Birmingham is less than an hour away. Our apartment is nice, the area is quiet with a lot of trees and only 4 miles from the school. we have found a church we like, too, Canterbury Chapel Episcopal. We tried a couple of different denominations before deciding on this one. Something about the ritual and quietness of the services really speaks to both of us. For me, it's soothing to my soul. The quiet simplicity makes me feel closer to God, easier to shut the other things out and focus on Him. But all that's a different blog post I guess.

Hopefully I will start updating more often. Being back in school is helping me become used to writing again, I have been feeling a little rusty. Now if I can just find time between all the working and going to school...

Walt Disney World - Day 2 - May 21 - Chef Mickey's, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios

2008-07-13T22:17:00.022-04:00

We began our first full day at Disney World with breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort. The Contemporary Resort, which I don't think looks like much from the outside, is absolutely gorgeous on the inside! I hope to stay there someday if we ever win the lottery. (Although really I would love to stay in each and every one of the hotels eventually.)

The breakfast was such a great way to start our day! The food was of course fantastic. They has these really yummy Mickey-shaped Belgian waffles! We looked for mickey waffle makers all over the park, but sadly we never found one. Each of the characters stopped by our table for a photo op. Yeah, so maybe we were the only people there without kids, but we had a great time acting like big kids!

After breakfast we headed to Animal Kingdom. As we walked in, we wandered though the Oasis and saw the Tree of Life.

Next we went to the Africa section.We got fast passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari and went for a walk through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Here we saw many different animals, including the okapi, naked mole rats and gorillas. We learned that if you ever meet a gorilla in the wilderness, it would not be a good idea to pound your chest unless you would like to be permanently maimed.

Next we rode Kilimanjaro Safari, which was one of my favorite rides at Disney World! We saw giraffes, elephants and lions. It was really amazing how close we were to these wild animals!

After the safari, we trekked to Camp Minne Mickey to see the show the Festival of the Lion King. It was one of Dustin's favorite things we did all week! The show was great, and my favorite part were the acrobatic monkeys!

Next we went to explore the Asia part of the park. We got fast passes for Expedition Everest and went to see the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Here we saw a variety of animals including giant fruit bats and tigers.

Finally it was time to ride Expedition Everest! Wow! This ride is so amazingly fun! Definitely my favorite ride of the week! We liked it so much that we got in the single-rider line so we could ride it again right away! After that we went and rode Kali River Rapids. We all got soaked, of course, but Karen really got the worst of it! I wish I had gotten a picture of it!

Next we headed to Dinoland. It is set up to look like a carnival with dinosaur-themed rides. We rode the Primeval Whirl, which is like an old carnival ride, and Dinosaur which is a ride in which you are on a mission to travel back in time and bring back a dinosaur.

The last part of our time at Animal Kingdom was spent seeing Finding Nemo: The Musical. This musical is awesome! It is a combination of people and puppets that is colorful and beautiful to watch.

After we left Animal Kingdom, we took a bus to the gorgeous Boardwalk resort. The guys wanted to have dinner at the ESPN Game Zone. It was pretty neat, the guys loved all the TVs playing sports everywhere, even in the bathroom! The food was average and I thought overpriced, but I realize you are paying for the atmosphere.

We walked down the boardwalk and boarded a bus that would take us to Hollywood Studios. We planned to see Fantasmic, but we had a little time to do a few other things first. We rode Star Tours and then went to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We all had a blast! Dustin was hilarious! We all just kept hearing a very high-pitched voice saying "Oh my Lord! Oh my Lord!" When we got off the ride and saw the picture they had taken at the top, Katie and I were looking at each other screaming. It was so funny and I can't believe we didn't buy it.

Finally we went to see Fantasmic. We were all super tired by this time and in general people were just getting on our nerves. But when the show started I think we all enjoyed it. To be honest, I thought it was a little strange, and not exactly what I expected. I thought it was mostly a fireworks show, but there were hardly any fireworks at all. I think the show would be scary for kids, there were a few times I jumped myself. But overall it was entertaining. When Fantasmic was over, we were all completely exhausted. We headed back to our hotel to get rested for what would be another busy day on Thursday!

Walt Disney World - Day 1 - May 20 - Part 2: The Rest of the Magic Kingdom

2008-07-08T15:27:00.009-04:00

After visiting Tomorrowland, we headed over to Main Street to see the "Dreams Come True Parade." Here are some pictures I took during it.

After the parade we headed over to Fantasyland, where we rode It's a Small World and one of my favorite rides, The Mad Tea Party. Andrew spun our cup so fast I was dizzy for a while afterward!

Next, we left Fantasyland and headed to Liberty Square and rode the Haunted Mansion. While we were there, we also went to the Hall of Presidents. Andrew and Karen are both big history buffs, so they really enjoyed it, while Katie, Dustin and I smiled politely, anxious to go ride Splash Mountain!

After an educational history lesson, we headed to Frontierland. We went to Splash Mountain first. It was Katie's very favorite ride and she had been looking forward to it all day! We got absolutely soaked! Luckily, we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad next, which helped us dry off a little.

By this time it was getting dark and it was getting close to time for the SpectroMagic parade. But first we needed to ride one more ride, Andrew's favorite ride, Pirates of the Caribbean! So off we went to Adventureland. (I did say we went and went and went our first day, right? Seriously, we did A LOT on our first day.) We got to Pirates and there was no line at all! Andrew loved it and it was neat to see how they have incorporated Jack Sparrow into the ride.

We headed back over to Frontierland where we found a great spot to watch the SpectroMagic Parade. It was pretty neat, but I think one of the cheesiest things I saw our whole trip (which is saying a lot considering it's Disney World and they kind of survive on cheesiness), but all the lights on the floats do create a neat effect. By this time we were all exhausted (we got up at 4:00 AM!) so we skipped the Wishes fireworks show and headed for the bus, hoping to beat the crowd and get back to our hotel. We ended up being able to see some of the fireworks from the bus on the way to the hotel. Once we got back to Pop Century we grabbed some dinner (at nearly 11:00 PM, did I mention we hadn't taken the time for a real meal all day?) and slept the sweet slumber of those at Disney World. Tomorrow, breakfast with Mickey!!

Walt Disney World - Day 1 - May 20 - Part 1: Arrival and Tomorrowland

2008-07-07T16:05:00.009-04:00

Our first day at Disney World was Tuesday, May 20. We made the most out of our first day there, enjoying the light crowds and seeing almost all of Magic Kingdom! Andrew and I arrived in Orlando around noon, a few hours after Karen (my mother-in-law), Katie (my sister-in-law) and Dustin (Katie's husband). We were picked up from the airport by Disney's Magical Express.

The Magical Express took us right to our hotel, Disney's Pop Century Resort. Pop century, as you can tell from the name, is decorated with pop culture items from throughout the 20th century. There are sections for the 1950s through the 1990s. We stayed in the 1950s section. Here are some pictures from around the hotel. We stayed in the building in the picture with Tramp.

After quickly checking in at our hotel, we hopped on the bus and headed over to Magic Kingdom to meet up with Karen, Katie and Dustin. I was so excited to see the castle!

The first thing we did was head right for Tomorrowland. There was a short line for the Astro Orbiter so we hopped in line. Now usually, I do NOT like heights and I've never had any desire to ride this ride whatsoever, but there was no way I was missing out on the first ride of Disney World and since this is the one that got picked, I bucked up and rode it. It was a little high for me, but I survived, and there really is a good view of the park from up there.

Next up, one of my favorite rides: Space Mountain! We got a fast pass that allowed us to return in a short amount of time, so we were quickly on board! This was Dustin's first ever trip to Disney World and he LOVED Space Mountain! This was the first of several times we rode it during our trip. Next up was the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, which is a slow moving tour around Tomorrowland. Not too exciting but a nice break. Also in Tomorrowland, we rode Stitch's Great Escape, which is a multi-sensory kind of show. We rode Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and Indy Speedway. Last was the Carousel of Progress, which put Katie to sleep and left the rest of us singing "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow" for the rest of the day. Tomorrowland: Check!

Exciting News!

2008-07-07T15:06:00.002-04:00

Wow, I just read my previous post and I am so relieved that I have a new job! I will be working in the Registrar's Office at the University of Alabama! It was the first interview I had at the university (although I had a a couple of others after it). Looking back on it, it seems like all that worrying was for nothing! It worked out so perfectly, we are moving into our apartment on July 25 and I am starting my new job on July 28! I am really looking forward to starting this new chapter in my life! Wince graduating from college, I have felt like it was my calling to work somewhere in a university or college system. When I finish my master's degree in Library and Information Services, I want to work in a college or university library. I am just so thrilled that I have started on the road to fulfilling one of my life's goals!

Now then, I am going to take advantage of a little bit of extra time (and procrastinating) this week and FINALLY blog a day-by-day account of our trip to Disney World. Yes, this was over a month ago, but I really want to have an account of it so I can read back over it later and relive these happy memories! To anyone out there reading, enjoy!

Freaking Out

2008-06-02T10:41:00.002-04:00

Ok, ok, I am freaking out and when all else fails this is where I come to freak out. It is the 2nd of June and I need a job in Tuscaloosa ASAP! I know that there is a plan in all of this, and hopefully I will look back and see that the timing was perfect and for a reason. But I am getting pretty worried. I get really sick to my stomach and stop sleeping when I get anxious. Yuck! There are sevral jobs at the university I would love to have. But I worry, am I good enough? I know I don't have a huge level of experience, but I always feel like once I get an interview I can convince anyone of how much I would enjoy the job. Especially the research job or the admissions counselor job. On Thursday, my mom met a woman in HR at UA, who gave my mom her phone number and told me to call her. I have tried, but she hasn't been at her desk any of the times I have tried to call. I wonder exactly what she can tell me. I HATE things to be up in the air and unsettled. I am praying multiple times daily about this, but I can't seem to get any peace. Waiting is the worst!

I do plan to blog all about our trip to Disney World, a day by day account, as soon as I have a chance, maybe one night this week!

Super Excited About Disney World!

2008-05-08T15:19:00.002-04:00

The day is fast approaching!! Only 12 days until our trip to Disney World! I am so excited to be going on this trip with my husband Andrew, his mom Karen, his sister Katie, and her husband Dustin. We always have so much fun together, and I can imagine we will have a great time at the Happiest Place on Earth! I have been looking forward to this trip since we found out we were going in January, and I'm so so excited it is almost here. I have been consulting all sorts of websites, forums, and blogs to get the most out of our trip. I can't wait to post about it when we get back!

Into the Wild

2008-03-26T16:28:00.003-04:00

Caution: Don't read this if you don't want "Into the Wild" spoiled!

Last night Andrew and I watched the movie "Into the Wild". This movie is based on a book which is based on the true life events of a man named Christopher McCandless. McCandless graduated from Emory University around 1990. He was a star athelete and graduated with top honors. He told his parents he intended to go to law school, but instead took his life savings and donated it to charity and then set out on the road. He wandered America for nearly 2 years before deciding he wanted to head up to Alaska and spend some time there living off the land. He lived for about 4 months before eventually starving to death.
For some reason, this movie deeply effected me. Seriously. I could not sleep last night. The very last scene of the movie shows the main character "dying" and I could not get that scene out of my head, the look on his face, the thought of him dying all alone in the wilderness. Plus, I was really mad at this guy because he didn't tell his friends or family ANYTHING. He just left. They didn't know whether he was alive or dead. And he just let them wonder for over 2 years until he was found dead my some hunters. While some people think this was some brave, noble quest, I was left with the feeling that it was more of a selfish, immature stunt.
Anyway, the whole thing put me in this weird funk. This happens on occasion. I will see a movie or read a book with a sad ending (usually involving someone's death) and it will put me into this little depression. It will stick around for a few days, I won't get much sleep and then I'll just kind of get over it. I hope that happens soon! The husband has psyco-analyzed me and he says it has to do with my fear of death and that I need existential therapy. I think this makes me sound like I should be in an independent film.

Alabama Bound!

2008-03-25T11:07:00.003-04:00

So I realized today that it has been a really long time since a I updated my blog. I know it's not like I have a lot of readers out there, but just in case I wanted to give an update on our lives! Andrew has been accepted to the PhD program in Clinical Geropsychology at the University of Alabama! We are so excited and we will probably be making the move down there in June or July! I am happy because my sister will also be a freshman at Alabama in the fall! I am also applying for graduate school there in Library and Information Studies. It is an online program I can do at night and finish in 2 years. I am hoping I get in! Of course, I am nervous about looking for a new job. I love the job I have now and finding a new one is going to be tough! But I know something will work out, maybe even something at the school which would probably mean I would get a discount on my classes! So all of this is very exciting and we are really looking forward to the changes that are coming up soon!

2008-03-25T10:55:00.001-04:00

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man		95%
Superman		60%
Robin		58%
Hulk		55%
Green Lantern		50%
Iron Man		50%
The Flash		40%
Catwoman		40%
Supergirl		38%
Batman		30%
Wonder Woman		23%

You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

I could be ok with that...

2007-12-04T19:49:00.001-05:00

Which Celebrity Chef are You?

You are GIADA DE LAURENTIIS!
You're more about being seductive than entertaining. You're great to look at, you can throw a simple pasta dish together like it's nobody's business and you could handle a crowd, if the need arose! Everyday Italian is your ideal show.

How do you compare?
Take this test! | Tests from Testriffic

This Makes Me Smile Too

2007-11-14T14:06:00.001-05:00

This Makes Me Smile

2007-11-14T14:03:00.000-05:00

Monday Morning Musings

2007-10-15T09:31:00.000-04:00

Well, last week I was very bummed because I thought I wasn't going to get to see my friends this past weekend and I really miss them. But I ended up having a really great weekend. First of all, my hubby is the best and we have been having Board Game-a-pa-looza since Thursday. He decided we should have a tournament of 15 board games and see who is the ultimate champion. He is leading my one game right now, and we are playing the final 2 games tonight. We played Thursday night, Friday night while watching "You've Got Mail", and Sunday. It was great!

Saturday turned out awesome, too! Andrew ended up going with a friend to the NASCAR race in Charlotte, and I went to Asheville for the day. My friend Missy lives there, my friend Rachel is doing an externship there and my friend Allison was just in town for the weekend. I love these girls and we had such a blast! We ate and went shopping and had a horrendous waiter at dinner, but all in all what a great day. I couldn't have asked for a better one. And we are trying to plan a get-together the first of November and I am extremely excited!!

It is Monday morning, and I am generally in a cranky mood anyway, but this morning I got a little ill. Last week a woman sent me something to place in the newsletter. I copied and pasted it. It had a typo. I caught it but somehow neglected to fix it. Said woman is particularly difficult to work with, even though I am nothing but nice to her and I have gone above and beyond my duty to do things for her on numerous occasions. Somehow she still always manages to make me feel stupid and about 2 inches tall. And on many occasions I have managed to screw things up that she has asked me to do, I'm sure furthering her belief that I am a complete imbecile. Anyway, about the newsletter typo, I received an email this morning that read "I would appreciate it if you would proofread my submissions for the newsletter." It just came across very snippy and mean. I screwed up, yes. But it is just as much her fault as mine. It really made me mad and upset for a little while. But then I decided that I would not let this woman ruin my Monday. I am trying to avoid attacking her personality or character, that is only me being mean-spirited. I just needed to vent about this so I could let it go.

Now I hope I can have a Happy Monday after a really great weekend!

I am Bummed

2007-10-09T10:27:00.000-04:00

So, yeah, I am bummed. I was hoping to see some of my old friends this weekend at my college's homecoming, but most of them aren't coming. I feel a little silly, too, because it used to be a pretty big deal for everyone, and suddenly it isn't anymore. It makes me feel like I am holding onto something that everyone else is ready to let go of. Everyone else has more important stuff to be doing, and I am just hanging around wishing it could be like old times. The thing is, I don't care about Homecoming. I don't care about seeing my old professors and the Homecoming parade. That is all just an excuse to see old friends. But now most of those friends aren't coming and I'm left with just the other stuff that I don't care anything about. I do, of course, care about the couple of friends that will be there, and it will be wonderful to see them. But maybe it's just gotten to that point when everyone has to take care of their own lives and let go of the past. I just didn't think it would happen so soon...

Romulus, huh?

2007-10-08T13:00:00.000-04:00

So, this is my daemon... whatever that is. It has something to do with the Golden Compass movie, which I am so excited to see. It looks very similar to The Narnia Cronicles, and I think it is cool I could pick out some parts in the preview that were shot in Oxford. The movie is based on a trilogy of books by Philip Pullman, so if I like the movie, I might have to check them out.

My Baby Sister

2007-09-11T16:26:00.000-04:00

Today after work I am driving to Chattanooga because tomorrow is my little sister's chapel talk in front of her entire school (grade 6-12). She has asked me to introduce her. I am supremely nervous. I'm not really sure what happened to me, I used to be able to get up in front of people and really not think a thing about it, but then one day I just snapped and now I am terrified in front of crowds. Especially crowds of people I don't know and who I imagine to be hyper-critical of everything I do and say and how I look and etc. I was supposed to think of a funny story to tell but after coming up blank from the pressure of trying to think of something, I have decided to just say something nice instead. I guess I should write it down though. I will get so nervous when I get up there I will forget everything I originally thought of I'm sure.

Anyway, I'm really proud of my sis. She's going to talk about her eating disorder in front of her entire school which I think is so very brave. Last night she posted her senior pictures on Facebook and it made me cry. It's like she is really grown up now and our childhoods are over. No wonder my parents baby her. They want to keep her a child as long as possible. That way things stay the same. Life is scary how fast it moves.

Currently Reading...

2007-09-10T09:52:00.000-04:00

I am currently reading "Girl Meets God" by Lauren Winner. It is a really interesting read about a girl who went to a lot of trouble to become an Orthodox Jew and then soon after converted to Christianity. So far, I've learned a lot about Orthodox Jewish traditions that I had no idea existed. Also, this girl is pretty much my hero because she is getting her PhD in American Religious History, which would pretty much be my dream except I probably wouldn't limit it to American. I am so interested in Church History, but that just doesn't seem like a practical goal to pursue for me. Ugh, this is just one more case of waiting for God to send me some incredible divine sign of what I am supposed to be doing with my life. I think I'll probably be waiting until I'm 80 for that. Ideally, I would research and write for the rest of my life, and design cards and things for my own use as a side hobby. As an academic, I feel like I would have the opportunity to be involved in various social justice ventures also. But then there are days when I want nice things like a house and nice clothes and I want to have kids and settle down and it seems like I should just do something practical like go to business school. But seriously, can I work in a business for the rest of my life?? Always thinking about money and the way to get the most out of people? That doesn't really seem like me. I just keep hoping that God will lead me in the right direction.

Dolly

2007-08-23T10:41:00.000-04:00

"Dannielynn Hope Birkhead Marshall's favorite singer is Dolly Parton." -Lifeline Live, USA Today

"The next milestone is September 7, when Dannielynn turns one. Birkhead is planning a big birthday bash, and 200 guests have been invited to celebrate, inluding Dolly Parton, Dannielynn's favorite singer." -US Weekly

Ugh, I hope Dolly doesn't go. How can they even know who a one year old's favorite singer is? They are just defaming poor Dolly's name. I swear, these people will do anything for attention.

A Bit of a Let Down

2007-08-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

Sadly, my blog has been pretty pathetic lately. I hoped I would be able to create a space where I could write somewhat creatively, because when I get inspired, I really like to write. Unfortunately, I have been pretty uninspired as of late. I will keep plugging along and hopefully I will have a revelation of inspiration sometime in the near future.

Things I Loved This Week

2007-07-13T14:37:00.000-04:00

On TV: My husband and I have been hooked on the World Series of Pop Culture. We are sitting there yelling at the TV and thinking we should form our own team and make a run for it next year. OK, so if I had gotten that category on Kevin Bacon movies, I would have been screwed, but I was awesome at the Saturday Night Live skits category. SCHWING! Also, I loved the Singing Bee. Another games I would rock at. Sadly, I was standing in line at the movie theater so I missed Don't Forget the Lyrics which I heard was good, too. That brings me to...

Movies: LOVED Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I can't say it was my favorite out of all the HP movies, but I liked it. I like more of the fun magic stuff, but the movies will be dark from here on out, because the rest of the books are. Plus, there is just so much stuff they have to leave out because of time constraints. Anyway, I love seeing the books come to life on screen. Good stuff. I also saw Transformers and love it too. I really thought I would hate it, but I didn't. I like giant talking robots. And that Shia Lebouf is a cutie.

Music: My husband went to Cornerstone Music Festival 2 weeks ago and came back with a bunch of new bands for me to try out. This week I've really been enjoying Rosie Thomas, Sufjan Stevens, and Cool Hand Luke.

Books: I finished Blue Like Jazz and it was so great. There is a ton of great, practical spiritual advice in there. I started reading Mere Christianity for a book study I am doing. It is deep, but I am trying to get it. C.S. Lewis makes really amazing arguments. At the end of one I'm always slightly confused and amazed at the same time. Also, I pre-orded Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow on Amazon this week. It is guaranteed to be delivered on July 21 when the book comes out, but I am slightly skeptical. We do live way out the country and all.

Other Stuff: I found clips of montages of the pranks Jim and Pam pull on Dwight from The Office on You Tube. The pranks from Season 1 are here. You can find the others from that page. Also, I love this:

Rugby's Moustache

2007-07-12T10:34:00.000-04:00

Check out Rugby's moustache!

http://www.petmoustache.com/singing_telegram.html?hash=3c139f8&a=true

Life Lessons from a Belly Shirt

2007-07-10T09:29:00.000-04:00

This morning I was driving to work. I was feeling good cause I'm having a good hair day and my husband told me I was looking good. I was listening to Rosie Thomas and feeling really calm and mellow. When suddenly, I look to my left and see a grown man, at least my dad's age, jogging in a belly shirt. And I burst out laughing. At least he was kinda in shape. I just think that perfectly describes my life. I am cruising along, feeling good and mellow, when something hilarious happens and shakes things up a little bit. And I love it that way. I love laughing at what crazy things life throws at me sometimes.

I Don't Even Like Math

2007-07-06T20:22:00.000-04:00

"When we reduce Christianity to math, we defile the Holy... Many of our attempts to understand Christian faith have only cheapened it. I can no more understand the totality of God than the pancake I made for breakfast understands the complexity of me. The little we do understand, that grain of sand our minds are capable of grasping, those ideas such as God is good, God feels, God loves, God knows all, are enough to keep our hearts dwelling on His majesty and otherness forever." Blue Like Jazz, p. 202

I'm in love with my doubt. That's a line from a Copeland song that I love because it describes my relationship with God so perfectly. It's eloquent. I was almost becoming proud of it. See, it's not my fault I'm doubting God. I'm in love with my doubt. People do crazy things when they fall in love. They can't be held responsible for what they do during that time. Their head just isn't thinking right. I have been doubting God for a while now. The weird thing is, I don't shun church or anything. I work at a church. I still go except for when I really want to sleep in. I still read religious books. I just don't quite buy it all. I'm not sure when I became such a realist. It might have been while I was studying Religion in college, oddly enough. When I became so sure that being logical and intelligent was the most important thing. When I decided I didn't want other people, non-Christians, to look at me and think I am crazy or stupid to believe in things like a virgin birth, resurrection from the dead, the ability to be saved from hell by believing that Christ was the son of God who was sent to earth with the soul purpose of sacrificing himself for our sins. I was just becoming convinced that I was never going to be able to fully believe these things because it's just not logical. I just can't wrap my mind around it. I've talked to my husband about it alot. Our struggles in our relationships with God are very different. He is probably the smartest person I know and the logical argument doesn't make a lick of difference to him. "I just believe," he says. "You just have to have faith, and I do." That blows me away. I want God to fit into this box that I have label precisely for him. He will go here where I can see him and study him and understand him and how he works and hear him. But in my heart I know. That isn't how God works. If I spend my whole life trying to get him to work that way, I will never ever find him.
So this passage was inspiring to me. For some reason, it just made me see this they way I needed to. I am trying to make Christian spirituality MATH. MATH FOR HEAVENS SAKE! Math is so common, so boring, so scientific. I have been stripping God of his holiness and replacing it with MATH. I'm an idiot. Christianity isn't math. It's sacred. I understand sacred things. In fact, I love them. I love old, old sacred music. I can almost relate to it more that praise choruses. (I know, I sound like I'm 60... stay with me here.) Old sacred music make me feel like it is a time with only me and God. Like back before the world became complicated and things got in the way. It seems to me like you could be closer to God then, like there weren't as many distractions. But I'm sure those people found distractions just like I do. I also love old sacred buildings. I absolutely adore old churches. When I was in Britain and Ireland, I must have seen a hundred old churches. And I never got tired of it. I could just stand there and feel God. Just be in awe that these amazing structures were created to honor him. And I love sacred art. And traditional sacred practices. See where this is going here? I am an idiot. How can I love those sacred things so much and yet want to boil God down to a science. God is holy and divine and we're not supposed to understand him. It's not like I've completely had a 180 here. But I have the desire to have a 180 and that desire has even been missing for a while. It's time for me to feel God and trust God without holding him in my hand. It's time for me to let God go and be what he truly is. I hope I can do this and as a result he can show me who he truly is in a way I can understand while still simply believing.

Andrew the Protester

2007-07-06T15:24:00.000-04:00

This just made me laugh:

"Andrew the Protester, the tall good-looking one with dark hair and the beard, the one that looks like a young Fidel Castro, was the activist in our bachelor family. He is the guy I told you about with whom I go to protests. He works with the homeless downtown and is studying at Portland State to become a social worker. He is always talking about how outrageous Republicans are or how wrong it is to eat beef. I honestly don't know how Andrew got so tall without eating beef." Blue Like Jazz, p. 178

New Pet Peeve

2007-07-02T15:20:00.000-04:00

My new pet peeve is when people talk for a really long time and have that ability that they don't pause between sentences so the person they are talking to cannot even manage to get in one single syllable and you must just stand there are listen to the person blather on about nothing (and it is usually the same nothing they blathered on to you about last time you had the misfortune of being cornered by this person) and really the sound of their voice bothers you so much that you just want to cover your ears and run away like a small child when they hear something they don't like but you can't do that because you are a grown person and grown people can't just DO that sort of thing and get away with it and so you must stand there and nod and try to smile and it's even worse when they are saying things you disagree with but you don't want to stay and get stuck in an even longer conversation so you just agree with their ridiculous theories and ignorant political ideas just so you can escape to somewhere where you can find glorious, glorious silence.

A Case of the Mondays

2007-07-02T10:07:00.000-04:00

So, here's the thing. I really hate Mondays. Like I have an unnatural hatred for them. I don't hate my job or anything. my weeks are not miserable and I don't dread the week starting. I just hate Mondays. I never get enough sleep on Sunday nights and as a result I am nearly always in the vilest of moods on Monday morning. I mean I just want to bite people's heads off. On Monday mornings I need to be able to work in a room alone with no one to bother me or even dare speak to me. I, however, am a church secretary. Not exactly a job where you can shut yourself off from the rest of the world. This morning I was already in a bad mood when a man walked in the office to complain about some work I had not done to his liking (which was absolutely not my fault, and I'm not just saying that, I would own up to it if it was). But he didn't confront me about the problem. He just stood at my co-worker's desk and complained about my competence, when I can clearly hear him on the other side of the partition. My God, I hope I never become a hateful old hag that is never happy with anything no matter what. Seriously, this church is full of them. I just want to shake them and say, where does that attitude come from?? Where is Jesus in you?? If you are the face of Christianity in this community (which is a very old community cause tons of people retire here) then no wonder we can't get more people interested in our beliefs. So it really makes me furious. So now I am furious on top of having my regular old case of the Mondays. So now I REALLY wish I had a room I could shut myself up in and not have to talk to anyone the rest of the day. Or, mostly, I wish I could just go back to bed.

Just for the record...

2007-06-29T12:57:00.000-04:00

OK, so I googled it and turns out there are a ton of other Blogs Around the Corner. So I am not the only person in the world who practically worships You've Got Mail. I think there's comfort in that. That movie could make me smile on the very saddest of days. And anyway, I suppose this will only become a problem if I become a world-famous blogger. Ha!

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Valuable, but small. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void." -You've Got Mail

TOMS Shoes

2007-06-28T14:26:00.000-04:00

This is a really cool idea I just read about. Whenever you buy one pair of these shoes (which are inspired by traditional Argentinian shoes) this company will donate one pair of them to a child in Argentina. Now if I could just decide if I am brave enough to wear these weird-looking shoes...

Thoughts about Blue Like Jazz

2007-06-27T19:34:00.000-04:00

So, this week I finally started reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. My husband kept talking about how good it was, and it is part of my quest this summer to read some "good, enlightening non-fiction". I read all the time, but usually novels, and many times the chick lit kind. Anyway, I am really enjoying Blue Like Jazz so far. This guy seems to be the same "kind" of Christian I am, if that makes any sense. Are there different kinds of Christians? Yes, I guess there are. Does God want there to be different kinds of Christians? That's an interesting question. I don't suppose he would want us all to be the same. He gave us all different brains after all. I love and respect my friends that have different ideas about Christianity than I do, and I hope they do the same for me.
One of the things that I hope sets Christians apart is our desire to do good. I hope that as Christians we seek to change lives by being obedient to God by serving and being a voice for those who cannot do for themselves. I am a big talker about being aware of the atrocities going on the world around us and the needs in our own backyard, but I often fail to put all that talk into action. I felt like Donald Miller was writing about my life when he said:

"I talk about love, forgiveness, social justice; I rage against American materialism in the name of altruism, but have I even controlled my own heart? The overwhelming majority of time I spend thinking about myself,pleasing myself, reassuring myself, and when I am done, there is nothing to spare for the needy. Six billion people live in this world, and I can only muster thoughts for one. Me." (Blue Like Jazz, p. 22)

Welcome to My Blog!

2007-06-27T14:05:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'm ready to post my first blog. I have to say, this is exciting. I've been thinking about blogging for a while, but today I was just having one of those days with so many thoughts in my head that I wished I had somewhere I could spit them all out. Ergo, The Blog Around the Corner was born. Do you like the name? It's from "You've Got Mail". The name of the bookstore in the movie is "Shop Around the Corner" which is also the name of the original movie that "You've Got Mail" was based on. I think I'm so clever, but I'm sure someone else out there in the great big blogosphere has already thought of this name. I hope I don't get sued. Anyway, this blog is just a place for me to yammer on about things I care about, some of it serious, some of it not. Thanks to anyone out there reading it. Enjoy!

The Blog Around the Corner

If you liked the Hunger Games...

My Pregnancy: 10 Weeks

Books 23-26 of 2011

Really Big News!

Book #22 of 2011

Cadbury Creme Deviled Eggs

Ferris Bueller Board Game

Books # 20 & 21 of 2011

Books #18 & #19 of 2011

Thought for Today

Apple Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Tuesday Giggles

Happy Birthday Mamaw

Adele - Rolling In The Deep (Live on Letterman)

Why Save PBS?

Books #13-17 of 2011

Book #12 of 2011

Cheese Grits

Cameo Candies

Happy Valentine's Day to My Love

The Secret Sisters

Books #10 and #11 of 2011

Books #7-9 of 2011

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Ingredients

Preparation

Books #3-6 of 2011

Shrimp and Orzo Salad

Books #1 and #2 of 2011

Taco Soup

Happy New Year!

Choclate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ninjabreadmen

Halloween Chicken McNugget Buddies!

Candy Corn Cupcakes (and they're low calorie!)

Sheldon vs. the Arachnid

World's Largest Gummy Worm

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Pink Week!

More Posts Coming...

Currently Reading: The Flying Troutmans

Story Corps - Danny & Annie

Pretty Things

The Swell Season covers Neutral Milk Hotel

This American Life.

I Love Gladiolus!

Summer Vegetable Gratin Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Rugby Dog!

Farmers' Market Goodies

Trying Again...

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him." Psalm 18:30

Posters from the WPA

Finished with Summer School!!

Recipe Project - #1 Prosciutto Roasted Salmon with Autumn Vegetables

I Love These Cookies

Happy Holidays!

New Job!

All I Want for Christmas is for My House to be a Holiday Tribute to Mariah Carey

Heartbroken

Elf Yourself!

Wow, really?

Election Season

Avett Brothers Concert

Tuscaloosa

Walt Disney World - Day 2 - May 21 - Chef Mickey's, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios

Walt Disney World - Day 1 - May 20 - Part 2: The Rest of the Magic Kingdom

Walt Disney World - Day 1 - May 20 - Part 1: Arrival and Tomorrowland

Exciting News!

Freaking Out

Super Excited About Disney World!

Into the Wild

Alabama Bound!

I could be ok with that...

This Makes Me Smile Too

This Makes Me Smile

Monday Morning Musings